I’ve never fancied a hardcore snow expedition. I’ve never wanted to climb Everest or trek to one of the poles, noble as those pursuits are. But lately, I’ve found myself more and more drawn to the idea of camping up a mountain. I blame photographs for this. More specifically, the “illuminated tent on a snowy plateau under a starry sky” shots that appear so frequently on the websites and social media feeds of adventure brands and pro snowboarders and skiers.
I wanted to step into that image and see if things really were as cosy and cool as they looked on Instagram, and combine it with some snowboarding. Which is how I found myself in Stubai, at 3,210 metres the highest point in the Tyrolean region of the Austrian Alps, at 3am feeling more awake than I ever have. The white snow outside made the inside of my tent surprisingly bright, and as I lay in my sleeping bag, layered up to the max, its fabric flapped wildly in the wind.
At a briefing the previous night, down the mountain in the historic Dresdner Hutte hotel, our small group had loaded up on käsespätzle (Austria’s answer to macaroni cheese) and, in our nervous excitement, tried not to drink too much beer. Our guides had warned us that high winds were forecast, though when I asked what speed they’d need to reach for the camp to be called off, they laughed, and said, “We never cancel.”
Next morning, under blue skies, we rode the first Schaufeljoch gondola to the top of the resort then walked downhill to our makeshift camping pitch. I had expected it to be in a remote spot, but given the forecast I was relieved that the lift station, with its toilets and “safe room”, if we needed it, was within sight.
The group ranged in age from mid-teens to over 50, a mix of couples, friends and two father-and-son teams. One son was comically grumpy, because he’d missed out on a date to be dragged off snow camping with his outdoorsy dad. I was the only English person among very friendly Austrians and Germans and we fell easily into teams.
Our guides had explained that you don’t secure your tent with pegs in snow; you build a snow wall with igloo-style blocks around the tent to hold it in place. The higher the wind, the higher the walls. We were told to go high. The hardest part physically was flattening the pitches with a shovel. The most fun was using the shovel’s pull-out saw to cut cubes of hard-packed snow.
Our guides told us to take things slowly and drink lots of water, as exercising at altitude affects you more than at sea level. But I got too excited about the build process, and it was only when I got a splitting headache that I realised I hadn’t drunk anywhere near enough and needed to rectify that quickly. By then the tents were set up, their orange domes photogenic against the white snow, but as we were taking our phone snaps, an ominous bank of cloud loomed on the horizon.
With the camp prepared we had the afternoon to enjoy the mountain, so I went snowboarding. Stubai is great for freeriding and has 15 inbound off-piste runs, known as The Powder Department, which are lift-accessed and GPS trackable.
As the mountain emptied and the lifts got ready to shut for the night, it was surreal to head back up in a gondola. It began snowing hard and the lift car swayed in the howling wind.
When the weather is good, the guides set up a food tent near the camp, while guests sit and chat as the sun sets, but as there was a blizzard they boiled snow for an astronaut-style dried sachet dinner in the undercover entrance to the lift station. I wolfed a veggie risotto in the warm, dry “safe room”.
As night fell, the piste bashers came up to see if anyone wanted a tour. We all jumped on, enjoying the wild rollercoaster ride in a whiteout. Then, at 8pm, everyone headed for their tent.
We had self-inflating mats and warm sleeping bags, so with those and my down jacket, many base layers and thick socks, I felt nice and cosy in my tent. I just didn’t feel remotely sleepy. The air was very cold so I put a neck-gator and beanie on, leaving only my eyes exposed, but I kept feeling my eyelashes freeze together. I listened to some music to relax, which worked for a few hours until my phone ran out.
Just before dawn I got the dreaded toilet urge – annoying enough in a normal camping situation, a disaster in a blizzard. I put on my semi-frozen snowboard boots and walked up to the lift station, the slope a lot less tame in the swirling snowstorm than it had seemed at the start of the day. We later heard that the winds had reached 80mph that night.
Everyone was up early but, apart from the hardened mountain campers, few of us had slept well. The guides and piste bashers, who had also pulled up a tent for the craic, had of course banked a perfect night’s sleep.
So was snow camping as awesome as it looks in photos? It was an amazing, original experience but my lack of sleep means I would have to say no. Yet when I snowboarded down from the summit before the lifts started running, and the fresh, wind-blown snow took on a dry powdery quality, it was a beautiful ride – made more so by my woozy sleep-deprived state.
• The trip was provided by SportScheck Bivouac Camp (stubaier-gletscher.com). The next runs 5-7 February 2016 as part of a three-day trip and costs €259, including lift pass, one night in a hotel, one camping, dinner and breakfast, guiding and camping gear. Flights were provided by easyJet, which flies to Innsbruck from Bristol, Gatwick and Luton from £64 return. Four Seasons Travel (tirol-taxi.at) provided transfers (Innsbruck to Stubai from £48 one way). Buses from Innsbruck station to Stubai cost €6.80. For more on skiing in the Tyrol see tyrol.com
More places to camp in the snow
Scottish Highlands
Walk Glencoe and Ben Nevis carrying all your kit and camping wild. Leaders with Himalayan experience provide tuition.
• £225 for 3 days, adventurepeaks.com
Swedish Lapland
See the northern lights from your tent on a husky adventure, camp in stunning snowscapes and take a traditional sauna.
• £1,334 for 8 days, naturetravels.co.uk
Banff, Canada
Off-piste skiers and boarders can ski-tour or splitboard from camp to camp in the wilderness, learning everything from site selection to rescue protocol.
• £293 for 3 days, yamnuska.com
